A Pennsylvania college student was found stabbed to death inside a car and now her boyfriend and his mother are facing charges.
The body of Karoline Jordyn Heintz was found around 12:24 a.m. ET, Aug. 20, after police were called for a welfare check, according to WPXI. They saw “noticeable blood splatter inside and outside of the vehicle,” Pennsylvania State Police said in a news release.
After spending the day with family, she was expected to return to PennWest California’s campus in California, Pennsylvania.
But when she did not check in to campus housing, her family tracked her vehicle’s location using an Apple AirTag. Her Jeep Cherokee was located in a parking area near the California Public Library, near the university, WPXI reported.
When police found the SUV, they found the 18-year-old in the back hatch area.
State Police tracked the movements of Heintz’s car and determined it had stopped at the home of Royce Moser’s father. Moser was Heintz’s boyfriend.
Moser told troopers that he and his girlfriend had spoken while sitting in her vehicle in the home’s driveway and that Heintz had said something that made him angry, but he couldn’t remember what it was, WPXI reported.
Moser told police he said, “Wait, I have something for you,” before going inside the home and grabbing a knife. He then came back outside and stabbed her in the chest before putting Heintz in the back of the Jeep, police said in the criminal complaint.
Moser then allegedly called his mother, Rachel Moser, who said to come to her home. When he got there, she allegedly said to pull the car into the garage and helped clean it with her son.
Police said Rachel Moser gave her son latex gloves before telling him to follow her car to the university, where they left the Jeep with Heintz’s body inside, WPXI reported.
They then returned to his mother’s home, where she instructed her son to “take a bath and shower” and change his clothes. She allegedly took the knife and put it in the trash outside the home, where police said they found it while executing a search warrant.
Royce Moser told police that he had a “demon take over,” telling him to stab Heintz. His mother also told police that her son had told her that he had “demons” that told him to hurt his girlfriend, but that she did not initially know if Heintz was “dead or alive.”
Royce Moser was charged with homicide, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence, conspiracy to commit abuse of a corpse, and obstruction of justice, Pennsylvania State Police said in a news release.
Rachel Moser is facing hindering apprehension of a fugitive, tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence, conspiracy to commit abuse of a corpse, and obstruction of justice, state police said.
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